The attorney general of Texas, Greg Abbott, recently reaffirmed the standing interpretation of the 1995 state law that restricts the power of the Texas state board of education to review and reject the content of textbooks used in the public schools. Abbott's opinion, issued on September 18, 2006, was in response to a request from board member Terri Leo (District 6), who was among the most vocal critics of the eleven biology textbooks under review by the board in 2003.

The New York Academy of Sciences presented a two-day conference on "Teaching evolution and the nature of science" in April 2006, aimed at answering such questions as: What are the basic tenets of the concept of evolution and how does understanding evolution play an essential role in comprehending science, and in particular, modern biology? How can science educators from elementary schools to college campuses respond to challenges from those who claim that intelligent design is as valid a theory as evolution?

Creationism emerged as a burning issue in Michigan's gubernatorial race, after Republican candidate Dick DeVos told a questioner at a September 8, 2006, campaign stop that he supported teaching "intelligent design" alongside evolution in the public schools.

NCSE is pleased to announce the publication of Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design is Wrong for Our Schools (Beacon Press, 2006), edited by Eugenie C. Scott and Glenn Branch, NCSE's executive director and deputy director, respectively, and with contributions from Scott, Branch, Nicholas J. Matzke (also of NCSE) and Paul R. Gross, Martinez Hewlett and Ted Peters, Jay D. Wexler, and Brian Alters, and a foreword by the Reverend Barry W. Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.